A/N: Apparently my character is looking Sue-like. Heaven forbid I should let that happen! As we get to know her she won't seem that way, I hope. And just to clarify, she's not Italian. She only lived in Italy for a while. And I felt like having a character that was all about purple, so that's why her hair is that color...hee hee hee.

Chapter 2: Family Portrait

"Alright!" the twins said together to the girls on the couch. "It's time to play the 'Which one is Hikaru' game!" Some of the girls on the sofa giggled and cheered as Mariko looked around disbelievingly.

"These guys get a kick outta this," she thought.

"The one in the blue cape is Hikaru!" one of the girls giggled.

"Correct!" the twins smiled.

"Now, wait a minute!" Mariko exclaimed. "You just told me that I was wrong about that earlier!"

"We switched capes a little while ago," they shrugged, but Mariko was looking at the two through narrow eyes. She stood up and walked toward the twin in the blue cape that they claimed was Hikaru and circled him. The other twin frowned in confusion and the girls looked around at each other in confusion as well. Mariko stood in front of the twin and came extremely close to him to look him in the eye.

"You are Kaoru," she whispered so that no one else could hear, and the twin looked at her in disbelief. She smiled mischievously at his reaction then walked back to the sofa and sat down among the girls.

"Kaoru?" Hikaru called.

"You said that was Hikaru!" one of the girls said.

"They said you were right because they didn't want to hurt your feelings," Mariko said, coolly. "Aren't they sweet?"

The girls giggled and Mariko winked at the boys.

"Kaoru?" Hikaru asked again, and walked toward his twin. Kaoru was still staring at her in shock and only jumped from his trance when Hikaru placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Kaoru smiled warmly, and shook his head.

"Nothing," he lied. Hikaru frowned at his brother then smirked and pulled his brother into his embrace.

"You know I can't stand to see you upset, Kaoru," he murmured. The younger twin realized that his brother was trying to get back into the flow of things, and instantly made a helpless face.

"Hikaru," Kaoru nearly moaned. "Please, you're making me blush!"

Mariko rolled her eyes and jumped when the girls around them screamed.

"I do not understand how these girls can like that!" Mariko thought. "It's wrong! Although, I will admit, these guys are cute, and I am having fun, especially with the more innocent one, Kaoru. He's fun to mess with."

"Well," Mariko sighed, standing. "As much fun as this is, I have to get home. Dad is gonna kill me if I'm not home in time for dinner."

"No!" Sakura protested, running toward her. "You can't leave yet! It's just starting!"

"Well, I'll see if I can get dad to slack off on me tomorrow, and I'll stay later."

Sakura couldn't contain her ear piercing scream of glee making Mariko cringe back and plug her ears.

"Hey! Come on! I need my ears!"

"Sorry," Sakura smiled innocently. "Will you really come back tomorrow?"

"Yeah, it seems like a nice place. I had fun while I was here. I'll be back tomorrow."

"We're somewhat glad," Hikaru and Kaoru said, coming up behind her. Mariko whirled around and smiled.

"Somewhat? I must be losing my touch." Mariko walked up to the twins and smirked. "Maybe you could help me get it back."

"Which one?" they asked.

"Either one," Mariko shrugged. "I'll choose my favorite later. See ya, boys." She grabbed her bag off the couch and walked toward the door. "See you tomorrow, Sakura."

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Mariko fumbled with her keys hurriedly to get the door open to her house. The door suddenly opened and she looked up to see a maid about Mariko's age with long auburn hair and round sapphire eyes framed in the doorway. Mariko sighed in disappointment and waved as she walked in.

"Hey, Kristine," she smiled guiltily.

"Welcome home, Miss Mariko," Kristine said emotionlessly, bowing. Mariko stopped and turned to her.

"Ya know, I won't be able to christen my key properly if you keep opening the door for me," she smiled sarcastically.

"Forgive me, Miss Mariko," Kristine said, bowing again. Mariko looked around.

"Is dad home?"

"No, your father is not home yet."

"Then you can quit with the act. I know you hate it."

Kristine looked up at Mariko and sighed in relief.

"Thank you."

"No problem!" Mariko smiled. "Now go on and have fun till dad gets home. I can get myself whatever I need."

Kristine bowed politely and ran off down a hall. Mariko chuckled and walked up a huge staircase that had a huge picture hanging at the top on the wall. She stopped in front of the picture and sighed at it in sadness. It was a picture of a beautiful woman sitting in a white dress holding a white umbrella with a sweet smile on her lips. She had hair like Mariko's and gray eyes that had total warmth to them even in a lifeless picture.

"Mom…" Mariko breathed. "I really miss you." She sighed again and walked up another flight of stairs to her left. She walked down the huge hall and stepped into her room, throwing her bag on her huge bed and flopping onto it herself. She groaned and wrapped the purple sheets around her as she turned onto her back.

"Stupid twins!" she hissed at the ceiling. "I can't stop thinking about them now!"

"What twins?" a male voice wondered. She sat up with a start and looked around her room then groaned when she saw who the voice belonged to. He was standing by the window leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his ankles crossed one over the other.

"None of your business, Yukio!" Mariko spat. "How did you get in here?!"

"I let myself in," he replied, coolly.

"Well, obviously, but my question was how?!"

"Through the window."

"I had it locked!"

"You know how good a locksmith I am."

"Why are you here?"

"I just thought I'd visit."

"Why don't you come out of the shadows so I can see your pretty ugly face?"

Yukio chuckled and stepped forward. He was a handsome boy, with black hair, golden brown eyes and a smile that could melt any young lady…except Mariko.

"Who are the twins you were talking about?" he asked sitting on the other end of the bed.

"I told you, none of your business," Mariko reiterated. "And get off my bed!"

Yukio chuckled again and stood up.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want, Mariko," Yukio said in a serious tone. "I won't stop until I get it."

"I don't care how much you beg, you're not getting it. I would much rather dive into a pool of flames than marry you. No matter how much you say you love me, I know you only want to marry me to inherit my father's firm."

"Is that so bad?" he wondered, walking around the bed toward her. "After all, you would be losing nothing, and I would be getting everything. If that's not a great deal than I don't know what is."

"I would lose my ability to be with the man I truly love!"

"Who is…?"

"I haven't found him yet! And I wouldn't be able to if I became attached to you. I don't even like you! Why don't you leave me alone?!"

"You say you want true love, but what you really want is someone to take care of you. You want someone that will buy you pretty things and whisper sweet nothings in your ear. You don't want the obligation of true love, because you would have to make a commitment, and you and I both know that you can't make a commitment don't we?" Yukio placed a hand on her cheek as he smiled down at her. Mariko stood up with a sweet smile and backhanded him as hard as she could. He sighed and looked at her emotionlessly as she glared at him in anger.

"Get out!" she spat. "And if you ever come here again without my permission I will personally see to it that you are thrown out!"

Yukio smiled and walked toward the door.

"You'll warm up to me eventually," he said confidently. "And when you do, I promise, I'll take good care of you. You'll have all the pretty things you want."

"Out! Before I call the guards on you!" Mariko shouted, pointing to her door. Yukio smirked, gave a mock bow and walked out the door. "Stupid, greedy, leech!" Mariko grabbed her bag, sitting on her bed, and rummaged through it. She pulled out a tape recorder and grinned as she hit rewind then play.

"No matter how much you say you love me, I know you only want to marry me to inherit my father's firm," she heard herself say from the recorder.

"Is that so bad?" she heard Yukio reply.

"This will convince dad that Yukio's not the man he thought he was," Mariko smirked in triumph. She rewound the tape fully and took it out of the recorder then strode toward her vanity on the other side of her room. She opened the small drawer beneath the mirror and placed the tape under a stack of papers then shut and locked it.

"The next time dad brings something up about that scrawny leech I'll just bring this tape out and play it for him," Mariko thought. "That should give him a reality check." She placed the key to her vanity in her pants pocket and walked back to her bed. She flopped onto the mattress and stared at the ceiling.

Yukio's words echoed in her mind. She wanted more than pretty things and sweet nothings. She wanted true love and everything that came with it. He was wrong. She could make a commitment no matter what he thought. However, she knew why he thought she couldn't.

A year ago, they used to be good friends and always hung out with each other until the day a boy named Bokura showed up. Her last year of middle school, and he asked her out on a date. Yukio was of course happy for her because she had had her eye on him since the year before, and let her spend as much time with him as possible. A year went by and Mariko and Bokura were having a marvelous time. Then, the day before graduation, her boyfriend asked which high school she was going to, and instead of telling him she was transferring to an Academy, she told him that she was going to Spain, which was true, but she had said that she wasn't coming back, which was not true.

The truth was that Mariko didn't want to have to deal with breaking up with him. She had become afraid of her feelings, not wanting to tie him down to her if she wasn't sure she loved him. Not only that, but a family tragedy had her confused and scared. Yukio had taken it as a sign of commitment issues when she told him the truth, and when Mariko came back, he didn't talk to her. That was, not until he learned that because of all the big-wigs that Mariko's father provided defense services for, the Hasigawa family had money. Lots of money. Money that could buy any suitor Mariko wanted. Hence, he wanted to marry her. Not for love, but money.

"Mariko!" a deep voice called from the den. Mariko sighed and stood up starting down the hall.

"Oh, goody," she thought out loud. "Dear old daddy's home." She walked down the hall, down the staircase, and turned to the right into the den. Kristine opened the den door for her, and Mariko looked at her apologetically. She stepped into the room, but stopped just beyond the door as it closed behind her.

The room was decorated in red and gold with a fireplace on the other end of the room, a huge window on the side wall, and the furniture was situated to face the fire. Sitting on the sofa facing the fireplace, Mariko could see a head of golden blonde hair that didn't move to look at her.

"You called, father?" Mariko said, semi-meekly.

"Yukio was here today?" Saigo asked, still unmoving.

"Yes."

"And he asked for your hand…again?"

"Yes."

"And you rejected him…again?"

"Yes."

Silence. He didn't move or say anything but Mariko simply stood. She wasn't going to be afraid of her father just because he wanted a proper successor to the firm. She knew everyone around her wanted something from her and she wasn't going to have it.

Her father wanted her to marry well and in return, he would get his successor. Yukio wanted her hand and in return, he would get the firm. It was always about what everyone else wanted, not what she wanted. She could care less if she didn't get what she wanted all the time, but the fact that she was trying to be forced to give herself away made her blood boil. That's how she could stand up to her father with this situation.

Saigo stood up, walked around the couch and stood in front of Mariko, his violet eyes burning into her own with anger.

"Why are you being so difficult?" he hissed. "He obviously loves you. Why not just marry him?"

"Oh, you think he loves me?" Mariko replied. "You think he cares about what I want?! Let me tell you, father, he wants me for the same reason you want me to accept him! Your firm! That's all he wants from me!"

"Some things are more important than your romantic ideas of true love---"

"Like the firm."

"Exactly."

"Screw the firm! I hate the fact that that is the thing that runs our lives! The world does not revolve around your stupid firm!" A smack resounded through the silence of the room, and Mariko felt her face sting, but it was a feeling she had gotten used to. She had been smacked by him before for shooting her mouth off against his firm, and no doubt, this would not be the last time she felt her face sting.

"How dare you?" Saigo growled. "It's because of the firm that you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food in your stomach! Am I so wrong to want someone to take care of you and the firm, the two most important things to me in the world?!"

"That's not it, father," Mariko said, calmly. She looked at him emotionlessly as he looked at her in surprise. "It's the fact that I can't choose who I want to be with because everyone I've ever wanted was not good enough for you. Not even him."

"You know I loved that boy like my own son! I had planned on giving him the firm anyway if you ever married!"

"No you didn't. You were never going to let him have the firm. And I didn't want you to give it to him either. He didn't need politics corrupting him. He was a good boy and he didn't deserve me. He deserved much better. He didn't need your firm to make him a good man."

Saigo stared at her for a moment. She didn't look angry, or sad, or in any way upset or at peace. She simply was. It was as if what she was saying was simple fact and not her opinion.

"Mariko," Saigo sighed. "Why won't you just accept Yukio's proposal? He seems to love you."

"Love me?" Mariko said, still emotionless. "You think he loves me?" She knocked on the door behind her and Kristine opened it.

"Yes?" she asked meekly.

"Go into my vanity drawer and pull the tape out and bring it to me," Mariko replied, pulling the key from her pocket and handing it to Kristine.

"Yes, Miss Mariko," Kristine said, taking the key and ran off to do what she was told. Saigo looked at his daughter in confusion.

"You see, father," she said, in a cocky tone. "I am much wiser than you think I am." She walked around him and stood to the right side of the fireplace where a large chair sat as well. "If you want something to be revealed, you have to say and do things to force it to come out. I have been able to do this with Yukio. I've talked him into his real feelings for me."

Kristine walked into the room, head bowed and without a word, handed the tape to Mariko.

"Thank you." She held the tape up as the maid walked out again and closed the door. "Listen to this tape, father. I'm sure you'll find this interesting, and after you hear this, you might think better of me, and less of Yukio."

A/N: Questions coming to your head? It wouldn't surprise me if you had a few. Just to be cute, Yukio is supposed to look kinda like Legato Bluesummers from Trigun. Hee hee hee. I couldn't resist! I was writing it and I was like, "That would be funny!" Reviews please?